"Let me go in first to see if thereâs any danger, you guys wait outside for a moment." Xu Xin stopped the groupâs footsteps.
If thereâs really a situation inside, it wonât be good for everyone to go in; someone needs to stay outside to observe the situation.
"Alright, youâre familiar with this place. Weâll keep watch outside and alert you if thereâs anything." Ji Chaoyang nodded.
"Be careful, run outside if thereâs danger!" Li Wenxi didnât insist on following him but said worriedly while taking out a crossbow, ready to act if needed.
"Alright." Saying so, Xu Xin stepped into the mine. This time Keke didnât stop him, she was in Li Wenxiâs arms yawning slightly, then closed her eyes again.
After entering the mine, Xu Xin didnât feel any sense of crisis rising, the ground didnât crack, everything was normal.
This mine had once again restored its previous calm.
Xu Xin looked toward the deepest part of the cave, where the bottomless pit was originally located, but now it had disappeared, and the ground returned to normal.
During the defense battle, some mutated giant ants crawled out of that pit.
He walked to the deepest part of the cave, took out a lance, and scratched twice at the original location of the pit with its tip.
The soil was thick, there was no sign that this land had ever been excavated.
"Thatâs really odd." Xu Xin frowned.
Not only this pit, but he also found that three pits â where the Red Mist Flower, the heart of the plant, and the pangolin group were located â had disappeared after the defense battle.
Are these pits also alive, will they close by themselves?
However...
He looked at the traces he had just scratched on the ground.
The traces didnât automatically repair and heal like last time when Xu Xin was here.
Has this mine returned to the way it was the first time he came here, no longer automatically repairing?
Can he start mining salt again?
He scratched twice harder on the ground with the lance.
But then the situation suddenly occurred.
As he was scratching these two times, the surrounding rock walls started to tremble slightly, countless small rocks fell from the rock walls. He could feel the ground beneath his feet slightly shaking too.
"Whatâs going on?" Xu Xinâs whole body tensed.
This place was within the "Giantâs Jaw," he absolutely couldnât be careless.
As he looked around tensely, he suddenly noticed that the side wall seemed... to be cracking?
"Kacha!"
The faint sound of cracking echoed clearly in Xu Xinâs ears, he saw a crack as wide as a finger appearing on the wall.
All the surrounding walls had no change, only here a crack appeared.
Could there be something behind this wall?
The crack continued to widen to as thick as two fingers, Xu Xin found a weak, luminous white light emerging from it, conspicuous in the pitch-black cave depths.
Sure enough, thereâs something!
As he was nervously staring at the crack, a commotion suddenly came from behind.
"Whimper! Whimper!!"
"Ah! Xu Xin! Come out! Hurry out!"
Keke and Li Wenxiâs anxious shouting came from behind him, he immediately turned his head to look at the entrance.
The sight shocked him, making his pupils tighten instantly!
The entrance of the mine, several meters wide, was actually slowly closing!
The rocks at the entrance were moving and closing at a speed visible to the naked eye!
The moving rocks seemed like living flesh, even giving a sense of squirming!
Xu Xin quickly glanced at the crack again, it had grown larger, and the white light was even more pronounced.
Li Wenxi was almost rushing in but was pulled back by Qi Xuefei.
Rushing in wouldnât help, it would only slow Xu Xinâs escape.
Li Wenxi naturally understood this, she shouted at the entrance: "Hurry out! Come out now! The entrance is closing! What are you standing there for!!"
If this were an ordinary door, they might not be so nervous, but the shape of this hill constantly reminded them that this cave resembled a giant mouth.
No one knew what would happen once the giant mouth closed!
Xu Xin swallowed saliva and dashed out, ignoring the crack on the wall!
The closure speed of the entrance was very fast, seemingly capable of closing entirely in five or six seconds!
Only then did Xu Xin realize that this cave was much deeper than it was the last time he came!
The last time he came, the deepest part of the entrance was only more than fifty meters, but now, he estimated the entrance to be seventy or eighty meters from him!
Even though his physical fitness had improved significantly, five or six seconds was simply not enough to run seventy or eighty meters! Especially since the ground inside the mine was potholed and bumpy, further slowing his speed!
Ji Chaoyang, the moment the entrance started closing, immediately took out his iron spear, laid it across the entrance above, trying to, without hindering Xu Xinâs escape, wedge the spear at the entrance to slow its closure.
But the constantly closing entrance immediately clamped the sharp spear; the powerful force instantly drove the entire spear into the cave wall, and with the closure of the entrance, the spear bent, and the spearhead drove deeper.
Xu Xin felt the mine shaking more intensely, and suddenly there was a sound of wind behind him.
But he didnât have the leisure to look back, continuing to rush toward the entrance!
Closing too quickly, thereâs no time!